Linear Algebra Investigations with the HP-48G/GX

It is not coincidental that this renewed attention to linear algebra is occurring at a time when technology is invading our classrooms. For, more than anything else, computing technology is opening up linear algebra in new and unprecedented ways. Ways that are challenging, exciting, and stimulating to students and teachers alike.

he Linear Algebra Curriculum Study Group has issued recommendations for the First Course in Linear Algebra [The College Mathematics journal, Vol. 24, N° 1, january 1993]. The recommendations advocate a matrix theoretic approach and call for the appropriate use of technology. Not only microcomputers running state-of-heart software such as MATLAB, but also technology in the form of the hand-held "supercalculators" that are sweeping across the country.

This book is intended as a technology supplement for undergraduate courses in linear algebra. Il presents appropriate pedagogical uses of, and teaching code for, the Hewlett Packard HP-48G/GX graphics calculators. It is designed specifically to help students and instructors incorporate these powerful hand-held devices as a computational tool for the interactive learning of linear algebra, and is independent of any particular textbook. The chapters survey the main topics of linear algebra and include activities and discovery projects that will engage students in a serious, calculator enhanced study of the material.

Contents

• Preface
• HP-48G/GX calculator basics
• Arrays
• Systems of linear equations
• Vector spaces
• Orthogonality
• Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
• Iterative methods
• Appendices
• Solutions
• Index
• HP-48G/GX teaching code